CFS-WB-CH18

UNIT 7 CHAPTER 18 

The Christian 

Understanding 

of Suffering 

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Chapter 18 Overview 

Sooner or later, everyone suffers. No matter how successful someone is, or how perfect their life might look, 

they have or will experience loss, pain, and suffering in some way. You are almost an adult, and to this point 

in your life you may not have experienced any real trials, or you may have endured — and still may be enduring 

— genuine hardships. Why does God allow this to happen? How can we make sense of suffering in the 

world as Christians? In this chapter, we will take a closer look at three Christian insights into suffering as we 

begin to answer the question of why God would allow it to happen. We will also look at common misunderstandings 

of why there is suffering in the world, and why they are incompatible with who God is. 

In this chapter you will learn that … 

■ Jesus Himself endured great suffering. 

■ By reflecting on Christ’s Suffering, Death, and Resurrection, we can gain three special insights in reflecting 

on the meaning of suffering. 

1. The Resurrection of Jesus and the suffering He endured for our sake perfectly reveals God’s 

unconditional love for us. 

2. Suffering is far from meaningless; it helps us move toward our eternal salvation. 

3. There will be no suffering in our own resurrection. 

■ Suffering is not only experienced by the unjust, and not solely the result of Original Sin. 

■ God may cause suffering directly if it is for our salvation and does not interfere with our freedom. 

■ Humility and trust must always be the basis of our relationship with God. As this relationship grows, it 

becomes more possible for us to endure suffering peacefully without understanding why it is happening. 

Bible Basics 

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be 

comforted.” 

— Matthew 5:4 

[W]e rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that 

suffering produces endurance, and endurance 

produces character, and character produces 

hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because 

God’s love has been poured into our 

hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been 

given to us. 

— Romans 5:3–5 

Connections to the Catechism 

■ CCC 402–406 

■ CCC 572 

■ CCC 601 

■ CCC 2086 

© Sophia Institute for Teachers 

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Chapter 18 

Aa 

VOCABULARY 

Redemption: Freedom from 

bondage or oppression. 

Christian Insights into Suffering 

One thing we can know for sure about suffering is that no one seems 

to escape it. From the discomfort of a headache to the anguish of losing 

a loved one, every person who has ever lived has or will experience 

suffering. Why? Why would an all-good and all-powerful God allow suffering 

to go on when He could stop it? In fact, for many in today’s world, 

this question is the single biggest hurdle for belief in God, even when 

presented with all the evidence we have covered in this course. 

As Christians, it is important for us to remember that God Himself 

endured great suffering. By reflecting on Christ’s Suffering, Death, 

and Resurrection, we can gain three special insights in reflecting on the 

meaning of suffering. 

1. Suffering is completely redeemed (or made good) in the 

Resurrection. 

2. Suffering has great meaning. 

3. There will be no suffering after our own resurrection. 

In this chapter, we will take a closer look at these three insights into 

suffering as we begin to answer the question of why God would allow 

suffering. We will also look at common misunderstandings of why there 

is suffering in the world, and why they are incompatible with who God is. 

First Christian Insight: Suffering is Completely 

Redeemed in the Resurrection 

Jesus’ Resurrection is the crowning truth of our Faith. Without it, our 

hope for eternal life is meaningless. St. Paul writes in his First Letter 

to the Corinthians: “Now if Christ is preached as raised from the 

dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the 

dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has 

not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching 

is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:12–14). We have 

many reasons to believe Jesus rose from the dead in addition to Sacred 

Scripture. In Chapter 7, we learned about some of this evidence, such as 

the testimony of the Apostles in the New Testament, along with modern 

historical research into the Bible. The Shroud of Turin and the Facecloth 

of Oviedo (see Chapter 9) as well as the phenomenon of near-death 

experiences (see Chapter 1) also provide convincing evidence of the 

Resurrection. Finally, we learned in Chapter 10 of Eucharistic miracles 

360 Apologetics I: The Catholic Faith and Science 

© Magis Center

and the miracles done in the name of Jesus through the intercession 

of His mother Mary and the saints, none of which can be explained 

without the Resurrection. Considering all this evidence, we can be confident 

in Christ’s Resurrection. The more confident we are in Jesus’ 

Resurrection, the more confident we can be about our own resurrection. 

And the more confident we are about our own resurrection, the 

better we will be able to respond when we experience suffering in this 

life. 

What do we mean by our own resurrection? In 1 Corinthians 15, St. 

Paul went on to express the unique Christian belief in the resurrection 

of the dead: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the 

first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came 

death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as 

in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (20–22). We 

express belief in the resurrection of the dead every time we profess our 

faith at Mass: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life 

of the world to come.” This means that we believe and hope that just as 

Jesus rose from the dead and now lives forever, so, too, will we rise again 

when He returns in glory, and live forever, in body and soul, with Him. 

Belief in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of 

the Christian faith from the beginning but has always faced opposition 

and misunderstanding. While many people will accept that the soul lives 

In his epistles, St. Paul 

expresses the uniquely 

Christian belief in the 

resurrection of the dead. 

St. Paul, by El Greco. 


Unit 7, Chapter 18: The Christian Understanding of Suffering 

361

Job is an example of steadfast 

faith even amid great 

suffering. 

on in some form after death, it seems incredible to some that our bodies, 

which are clearly mortal, could also share in everlasting life. Christ’s 

Resurrection, however, gives us some understanding of how the resurrection 

will occur. The bodies we are raised with will be our own bodies, 

but they will be glorified like His, and the life we return to will be different 

from this earthly life. And it is in our resurrected glorified bodies that we 

will live forever with God at the end of time, free of suffering and death. 

The resurrection exceeds our imagination and understanding and is 

something that we can only know by faith. 

Belief in Jesus’ Resurrection gives us hope in our own resurrection, 

but why does it give us that hope? Because of who God is: He is love. 

The Resurrection of Jesus and the suffering He endured for our sake 

perfectly reveals God’s unconditional love for us. Because of God’s unconditional 

love, He does everything possible for us. Perfect love never 

ends, and so, God’s plan is our union with Him for eternity. If we seek 

Him with a sincere heart and strive do His will as Jesus taught us, we 

can be confident that the unconditional love of Jesus and His Father 

will bring us to the promised resurrection. We should not doubt that the 

Lord will forgive us as many times as we have failed, just as the tax collector 

in Jesus’ parable received God’s mercy when he prayed contritely 

(Luke 18), and the father of the Prodigal Son rejoiced at the return of 

his son (Luke 15). 

Job and His Friends, by lya Repin. 


© Magis Center

St. Paul understood how important this confidence in the unconditional 

love of God is — not only for the sake of warding off discouragement 

and despair, but also for making sense of the suffering in our 

lives. In Romans 8, Paul argues that if God allowed His Son to sacrifice 

Himself completely for us, then there is nothing that He would not do to 

save us and bring us to eternal life. Paul goes further: nobody else, not 

even the evil spirits, can successfully block us from God’s saving intention. 

Therefore, if we try to do God’s will as Jesus taught us and ask sincerely 

for forgiveness when we have failed to do so, then God will lead 

us to His Kingdom. We should have confidence in this truth — particularly 

during times of suffering. When we are suffering severely, we will 

want to remember and turn to this radical hope in God’s loving intent to 

save us. Anything less could cause us to falter at the very moment we 

must believe in our risen glory with Him. 

So, this first and most foundational Christian insight is Jesus’ redemption 

of suffering. Because our lifetimes are limited and will end, 

so will our suffering. When experiencing the joy of God’s unconditional 

love in Heaven, our suffering in this life will seem like it was just for an 

instant. Just like a mother who forgets the pains of childbirth when she 

lovingly gazes at her newborn baby, our suffering will evaporate. When 

Christians put their faith in Jesus, this life can no longer be ultimately 

tragic. Jesus promised that all suffering would be transformed into 

perfect love and joy in His Kingdom, meaning that even the worst of 

disasters will be perfectly redeemed for all eternity. But the redemption 

of suffering in an eternal life of unconditional love is not the whole story. 

Suffering has a significant purpose in this life, too. 

When we are 

suffering 

severely, we 

will want to 

remember and 

turn to this 

radical hope in 

God’s loving 

intent to save us. 

Second Christian Insight: Suffering Has Meaning 

The secular culture views suffering as meaningless, that it should be 

avoided at all costs. It asserts, often in pursuit of immoral actions like 

euthanasia, that suffering strips the sick and elderly of their dignity. But 

the truth is, suffering is far from meaningless. It helps us move toward 

our eternal salvation. It provides many opportunities: It can shock us 

out of a superficial existence and point the way to a truly fulfilling life. It 

can lead us to deepen our trust in God, which can lead to our salvation 

and the salvation of others. Suffering provides the conditions for need 

and interdependence, which in turn helps us hear the call to serve others 

and to make the world a better place. It can spark growth in natural 

virtues such as endurance, courage, fortitude, prudence, rationality, and 

temperance. It can purify and deepen our love (agapē), particularly in 



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St. Paul’s 

perspective is 

that suffering 

plus faith will 

lead to virtue 

and love, and 

ultimately 

salvation. 

empathy, humility, forgiveness, and compassion, and provides the conditions 

for building the Kingdom of God on earth, bringing hope and 

the Good News of salvation to the world. 

Were it not for suffering, we would not have a reason to move beyond 

a self-centered nature. We would be left without the challenges 

that call us to courage, effort, commitment, and love. Thus, even 

though suffering causes pain, loss, grief, and other negative emotional 

states, Jesus did not view it as essentially negative because in the context 

of Faith it can lead toward our and others’ salvation. 

St. Paul develops this theology of positive suffering in two important 

ways. The first concerns the role of suffering in developing natural 

virtue: “[W]e rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces 

endurance, and endurance produces character, and character 

produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because 

God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit 

who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5). St. Paul’s perspective is 

that suffering plus faith will lead to virtue and love — and ultimately salvation. 

Virtues like endurance, character, and hope open us to the love 

of God, to an increase in trust, and to a deepening of our own capacity 

for love. 

The second way St. Paul develops this theology of suffering is by 

showing us how suffering teaches us to avoid pride in our own strength, 

and to instead trust in God’s power: 

“And to keep me from being too elated by the 

abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me 

in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, 

to keep me from being too elated. Three times I 

besought the Lord about this, that it should leave 

me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for 

you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, 

that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For 

the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, 

insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; 

for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 

Corinthians 12:7–10) 

The original Greek work translated here as “elated,” can also be translated 

as “proud,” which can help us understand what Paul meant. Paul’s 

thorn in the flesh was probably a physical infirmity (many biblical scholars 

believe that he had significant problems with his vision). And we see 

that the suffering from this infirmity brings him two benefits: It prevents 


© Magis Center

The smallpox scars on St. 

Kateri Tekakwitha face, a 

source of humiliation in her 

youth, were miraculously 

healed moments after she 

died. 

Statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, image courtesy Shutterstock. 

him from becoming proud, and his weaknesses are the means through 

which Jesus’ power is perfected within him. 

For St. Paul, there are far worse things than suffering — namely, the 

darkness of pride and conceit, which could give him the false impression 

that he was more important and his life more valuable than others. 

So, Paul felt incredibly blessed by the Lord to be given his thorn which 

caused him to stumble, be embarrassed, and be dependent on others. 

Moreover, his thorn opened him to the strength and grace of Christ, 

helping him toward his salvation while making him a light to the salvation 

of others. 

Third Christian Insight: Unconditional Love and the 

Absence of Suffering in the Resurrection 

Our final insight is the sure knowledge that suffering will be absent in 

the resurrection. In the Book of Revelation, the prophetic author states, 

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be 

no more … ‘Behold, I make all things new’” (Revelation 21:4–5). This 

New Testament teaching is validated, interestingly, in thousands of accounts 

of near-death experiences (NDEs) as we explored in Chapter 1. 



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The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, by Benjamin West. 

The sin of Adam brought 

suffering and death into the 

world, but Original Sin is not 

the whole reason for human 

suffering. 

Those who have had NDEs report almost universally that overwhelming 

love is the primary characteristic of their experience. Frequently, these 

individuals are taken up into a loving white light; others experience the 

love of families, friends, and even Jesus Himself. 

As discussed earlier, this view of Heaven puts into perspective the 

suffering we endure on this earth. It shows that we will be brought to 

fulfillment in our souls and bodies, in our consciousness and love, with 

family and friends, and in the splendor of God. Jesus promised the removal 

and redemption of pain and suffering in the afterlife: “Blessed 

are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4) 

and “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 

you rest.” (Matthew 11:28). God intends to make use of every bit of 

our suffering to bring us, and others through us, into the eternal peace, 

joy, and love of His Kingdom. 

Common Misunderstandings of God’s Role in 

Suffering 

Before concluding, we should examine some common misunderstandings 

of suffering and God’s role in it. If we do not know what Jesus revealed 

to us about God, it can be easy to form false understandings 

about God and His role in suffering that are simply incompatible with 

the true Christian teaching of the God of love. 


© Magis Center

First Misunderstanding: Suffering is God’s Punishment for Sin 

For most of Israel’s history, suffering was understood in this way. For example, 

in the Old Testament Book of Job, the protagonist of the story, 

Job, did not understand why he was made to suffer so much when 

was a just man. His friends tried to rationalize his situation by telling him 

that he must have some fault that brought his afflictions on him. In this 

view, the suffering of a seemingly innocent person is brought about because 

they either do not realize their true sinfulness, or they are being 

punished for the sins of their father (or grandfather, or great grandfather) 

(see Job 3:1–26; 4:1–21; 21:17–20). God is thus not responsible 

for the suffering of the seemingly innocent; He is simply administering 

justice. But Jesus revealed God as the unconditionally loving father 

of the Prodigal Son who does not directly inflict suffering as a punishment. 

Rather, Jesus tells us that the Father “makes his sun rise on the 

evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” 

(Matthew 5:45). Jesus formally abandons the idea of suffering as 

punishment for sin and says that God causes rain (something negative) 

to fall on both the righteous and sinners, and that God causes His sun to 

shine (something positive) on both sinners and the righteous. 

Second Misunderstanding: Suffering Is Solely the Result of 

Original Sin 

Neither the Gospels nor the Book of Job point to the sin of Adam to 

explain suffering. In fact, the Book of Job instead refers to the testing 

of people by Satan, the punishment of sinful people by God, the good 

things suffering can do for us, and the mystery of suffering. We can 

see, then, that Original Sin is at least not the whole reason for human 

suffering. Jesus supersedes the first two reasons (testing and punishment). 

And He brings enhanced understanding to the second two (the 

good and mystery of suffering), which we will learn more about in the 

next chapters. 

Original Sin: The state of 

human nature deprived of the 

original holiness and justice 

Adam and Eve enjoyed before 

the Fall. 

“He makes his 

sun rise on the 

evil and on the 

good, and sends 

rain on the 

just and on the 

unjust.” 

MATTHEW 5:45 

Third Misunderstanding: God Directly Wills the Events That 

Cause Suffering 

As previously noted, during the time of the Old Testament, it was commonly 

thought that God was directly responsible for everything that 

happens. Jesus did not directly dispute this idea, but, if we think about 

it, if God were the direct cause of every action in the world, chance and 

human freedom would be impossible. St. Thomas Aquinas concluded 

that after God (the First Cause) created the universe, secondary causes 

(such as gravity) began to operate. This central idea provided the 



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Freedom: The power, rooted 

in the intellect and will, to act 

or not to act, to do this or that, 

and so to perform deliberate 

actions on one’s own 

responsibility. True freedom 

is the ability to do what one 

ought to do, that which is truly 

good and directed toward 

God, our happiness and 

fulfillment. 

Humility: The moral virtue 

that keeps us from being 

concerned with personal 

greatness, but to recognize 

our total dependence on God. 

intellectual framework for the emergence of natural science. In contemporary 

physics, Big Bang cosmology indicates that the parameters 

of all causation and natural objects were infused in the universe at the 

Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. Though the whole universe must be 

brought into being and sustained in being by God (the First Cause), the 

forces in the universe can act toward their proper ends without His direct 

intervention (for example, gravity can cause an object in the air to 

fall back to the earth). While God can intervene in these natural processes 

through a miracle, constant interference would make the laws of 

nature too unpredictable and undermine human freedom and the benefits 

suffering can bring. We will see in the next chapter that there can 

be many benefits to challenges and weaknesses, which we would lose if 

all suffering were miraculously averted. 

So, does God ever directly cause suffering? Sometimes, but probably 

very rarely. It is certainly in His power to do so if He chose to. For example, 

when St. Paul was on the road to Damascus, Jesus caused him 

to be temporarily blind. God may cause suffering directly if it is for our 

salvation and does not interfere with our freedom. While St. Paul received 

a stunning wake-up call, he freely chose to become a Christian. 

But such examples are hard to find as most of the suffering we encounter 

comes from the usual, non-divine causes: our choices, others’ 

choices, and natural causes (e.g., gravity). 

Fourth Misunderstanding: If God Were Present in Our 

Suffering, We Would Be Able to See How He Helps Us 

While it may be tempting to think this way, when we recognize the infinite 

wisdom and power of God, we accept our inability to understand 

fully how He works. In the Old Testament, God spoke through the 

Prophet Isaiah about this very idea: 

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, 

neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so are my ways higher than your ways 

and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

(Isaiah 55:8–9) 

Humility and trust must always be the basis of our relationship with 

God. As this relationship grows, it becomes more possible for us to endure 

suffering peacefully without understanding why it is happening. 

There is one truth we must never abandon no matter our feelings: when 

one door closes due to suffering, weakness, or grief, the Holy Spirit is 

opening other doors that will lead to purification of faith and love, to 


© Magis Center

our salvation, and to our ability to serve others. And remember that 

the Holy Spirit understands the vast array of possibilities in the present 

and the future, the depths of our and others’ minds and hearts, and the 

needs of the Kingdom of God and the common good. But we do not. 

Conclusion 

We can wrap up the Christian view of suffering with this observation: 

God allowed His only begotten Son to suffer for our benefit. Why 

wouldn’t He allow us to suffer too if it contributes to the same benefit? 

There is no greater benefit for us than eternal life. Belief in Jesus’ 

promise to remove and redeem all suffering and bring us into a domain 

of perfect love and joy is essential to the Christian experience of suffering 

well. When we affirm this truth, suffering can no longer be ultimately 

tragic. Yes, it can produce terrible pain, grief, loneliness, emptiness, fear, 

and frustration, but these negative states are only temporary if we believe 

in the Resurrection and put the redemption of our suffering into 

the hands of the loving God. 

Salvation: The act of being 

freed from the power 

and effects of sin. Jesus 

earned our salvation by His 

sacrifice on the Cross and His 

Resurrection from the dead. 

When we affirm the 

Resurrection, suffering can no 

longer be ultimately tragic. 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Raphael. 



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Focus and Reflection Questions 

1 What three insights can we gain from reflecting on the meaning of suffering from the Christian 

perspective? 

2 What did St. Paul say our faith is empty without? 

3 What does confidence in Christ’s Resurrection lead to? 

4 What do we believe as Christians about our own resurrection? 

5 How does the Resurrection reveal who God is? 

6 Why does putting our Faith in Jesus Christ mean that nothing we experience in this life will be 

ultimately tragic? 

7 What meaning does suffering have? Why is it not essentially negative? 

8 What was the thorn in his flesh that St. Paul described? How did he explain that this thorn was 

actually a blessing? 

9 How do studies of near-death experiences validate the New Testament teaching about suffering in 

the resurrection? 

10 How was suffering understood for most of Israel’s history? What does Jesus teach otherwise? 

11 How do we know that Original Sin is not the whole reason for human suffering? 

12 Does God directly cause suffering? Why or why not? 

13 Why does enduring suffering peacefully require humility and trust? 

14 Why can we conclude that suffering must be a part of God’s plan? 


© Magis Center

Straight to the Source 

ADDITIONAL READINGS FROM PRIMARY SOURCES 

Homily of Pope Francis, Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, June 12, 2016 

This Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 7:36–8:3) presents us with a specific situation of weakness. The woman 

caught in sin is judged and rejected, yet Jesus accepts and defends her: “She has shown great love” 

(7:47). This is the conclusion of Jesus, who is attentive to her suffering and her plea. This tenderness 

is a sign of the love that God shows to those who suffer and are cast aside. Suffering need not only 

be physical; one of today’s most frequent pathologies is also spiritual. It is a suffering of the heart; it 

causes sadness for lack of love. It is the pathology of sadness. When we experience disappointment 

or betrayal in important relationships, we come to realize how vulnerable and defenseless we are. The 

temptation to become self-absorbed grows stronger, and we risk losing life’s greatest opportunity: to 

love in spite of everything! 

The happiness that everyone desires, for that matter, can be expressed in any number of ways and attained 

only if we are capable of loving. This is the way. It is always a matter of love; there is no other path. 

The true challenge is that of who loves the most. How many disabled and suffering persons open their 

hearts to life again as soon as they realize they are loved! 

1 As suffering is not only physical, but also spiritual, what is one of the most frequent types of spiritual 

suffering and its effects? 

2 How must we counteract this potential risk of becoming self-absorbed and why? 

Salvifici Doloris 21, an Encyclical Letter of Pope St. John Paul II, February 11, 1984 

21. The Cross of Christ throws salvific light, in a most penetrating way, on man’s life and in particular on his 

suffering. For through faith the Cross reaches man together with the Resurrection: the mystery of the 

Passion is contained in the Paschal Mystery. The witnesses of Christ’s Passion are at the same time witnesses 

of his Resurrection. Paul writes: “That I may know him (Christ) and the power of his Resurrection, 

and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection 

from the dead”(64). Truly, the Apostle first experienced the “power of the Resurrection” of Christ, on 

the road to Damascus, and only later, in this paschal light, reached that “ sharing in his sufferings” of 

which he speaks, for example, in the Letter to the Galatians. The path of Paul is clearly paschal: sharing 

in the Cross of Christ comes about through the experience of the Risen One, therefore through a special 

sharing in the Resurrection. Thus, even in the Apostle’s expressions on the subject of suffering there so 

often appears the motif of glory, which finds its beginning in Christ’s Cross. 

The witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection were convinced that “through many tribulations we must 

enter the Kingdom of God”(65). And Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says this: “We ourselves boast 

of you ... for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you are 



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enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the 

Kingdom of God, for which you are suffering”(66). Thus to share in the sufferings of Christ is, at the 

same time, to suffer for the Kingdom of God. In the eyes of the just God, before his judgment, those 

who share in the suffering of Christ become worthy of this Kingdom. Through their sufferings, in a certain 

sense they repay the infinite price of the Passion and death of Christ, which became the price of our 

Redemption: at this price the Kingdom of God has been consolidated anew in human history, becoming 

the definitive prospect of man’s earthly existence. Christ has led us into this Kingdom through his suffering. 

And also through suffering those surrounded by the mystery of Christ’s Redemption become 

mature enough to enter this Kingdom. 

1 Explain the comments made by Pope St. John Paul II when he states that the Cross of Christ is salvific 

and that the “mystery of the Passion is contained in the Paschal Mystery.” 

2 What were St. Paul and the other first “witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection” convinced of in terms 

of salvation? 

3 What does Pope St. John Paul II conclude regarding salvation in terms of suffering? 

Deus Caritas Est 37–38, an Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI, December 25, 2005 

37. It is time to reaffirm the importance of prayer in the face of the activism and the growing secularism 

of many Christians engaged in charitable work. Clearly, the Christian who prays does not claim to be 

able to change God’s plans or correct what he has foreseen. Rather, he seeks an encounter with the 

Father of Jesus Christ, asking God to be present with the consolation of the Spirit to him and his work. A 

personal relationship with God and an abandonment to his will can prevent man from being demeaned 

and save him from falling prey to the teaching of fanaticism and terrorism. An authentically religious 

attitude prevents man from presuming to judge God, accusing him of allowing poverty and failing to 

have compassion for his creatures. When people claim to build a case against God in defense of man, 

on whom can they depend when human activity proves powerless? 

38. Certainly Job could complain before God about the presence of incomprehensible and apparently 

unjustified suffering in the world. In his pain he cried out: “Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I 

might come even to his seat! ... I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would 

say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? ... Therefore I am terrified at his 

presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified 

me” (23:3, 5-6, 15-16). Often we cannot understand why God refrains from intervening. Yet he 

does not prevent us from crying out, like Jesus on the Cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken 

me?” (Mt 27:46). We should continue asking this question in prayerful dialogue before his face: “Lord, 

holy and true, how long will it be?” (Rev 6:10). It is Saint Augustine who gives us faith’s answer to our 

sufferings: “Si comprehendis, non est Deus” — ”if you understand him, he is not God.” Our protest is not 

meant to challenge God, or to suggest that error, weakness or indifference can be found in him. For the 

believer, it is impossible to imagine that God is powerless or that “perhaps he is asleep” (cf. 1 Kg 18:27). 


© Magis Center

Instead, our crying out is, as it was for Jesus on the Cross, the deepest and most radical way of affirming 

our faith in his sovereign power. Even in their bewilderment and failure to understand the world around 

them, Christians continue to believe in the “goodness and loving kindness of God” (Tit 3:4). Immersed 

like everyone else in the dramatic complexity of historical events, they remain unshakably certain that 

God is our Father and loves us, even when his silence remains incomprehensible. 

1 In his Encyclical Letter, why does Pope Benedict XVI warn Christians against blaming and judging God 

for sufferings in the world such as poverty? 

2 Does abandonment to God’s will mean we are not allowed to question our trials and sufferings? 

3 According to Pope Benedict XVI, what should Christians focus on when God seems to be silent in 

circumstances, and when they cannot understand or are bewildered by the world that surrounds 

them? 



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